gender and

women
Ashley Thompson, Chanel
Slaughter, and Marisa
Kolomitz

Thesis
The way in which our societys social normality of gender
roles and sexuality is practiced affects women in a negative
way.
Women are made submissive through our cultural practices of
sexuality.
Women are objectified in favor of male power.
We live in a male-dominated society, making women inferior
to men.
Many of the stories covered throughout class support this
thesis.

How does sexuality affect women?

As Mackinnon said in her piece Sexuality, male dominance
sexualizes hierarchy.
This sexualization of hierarchy projects aggressive intrusion
on those with less power (women).
This directly affects women in regards of submission and
vulnerability to a higher power (men).

Feminist theory of sexuality (Mackinnon)

Treats sexuality as a social construct of male power.
Sexuality is defined by men and forced by women.
Women are expected to respond to the terms that men set.
Women is defined by what male desire requires for arousal
and satisfaction.
Sexuality=heterosexuality=sexuality of male dominance and
female submission.

Sexuality is socially constructed

(Mackinnon)
Constructed means to be influenced by.
Allowed/not allowed is sexualitys basic ideological axis.
Whatever is considered sexuality should be allowed to express.
Civilization having been male dominated, female sexuality has been
repressed, or not allowed.

Womens resistance (Mackinnon)

Womens resistance is a cultural stereotype.
The force in rape, or resistance is not sexual to men.
Mackinnon believes that if women were to not resist so much
from sex, then rape would no longer be an issue.
What is sexual is what gives a man an erection.

Mackinnon: Consciousness Raising

An oppressed group must at once shatter the self reflecting

world which encircles it and at the same time, project its own
image onto history.
A perfect quote used to inspire feminist to share their story in a
way to acknowledge the oppression that happens to each
individual person that we are unaware as being oppressive.

Mackinnon.
Mackinnon examines this idea of Consciousness Raising. This
takes us to our first point of how women are made to be normal
by society. Mackinnon explains how the women is expected to
play her role of being a heterosexual. We are meant to take
care of the children and also to be sexual beings.

Rubins Approach
Rubins approach on gender and sex in society was based on alot of
traditonal views. But she illustrated two main points for us to
understand from a feminist point of view
Social construction of a sex/ gender system
The power of a kinship system

Sex/ Gender System

This is a set of arrangements by which a society transforms
biological sexuality into products of human activity and in
which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied.
Robin believed that these systems were problematic because
they could either be seen as egalitarian or social. This
represents the importance that oppression does not have to
inevitable.

Kinship?
Kinship is an organization that gives power to the man. With
this power a woman becomes a gift and the MAN becomes the
giver
ex. A prime example of this is a father GIVING his daughter to
another man.

The Stats
Rape and Domestic Violence are two of the main ways men assert their dominance, Here are the facts:
1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her
lifetime. Among all victims, about nine out of ten are female.
Women
17.7% of white women
18.8% of African-American women
6.8% of Asian / Pacific Islander women
34.1% of American Indian / Alaskan Native women
24.4% mixed race women

Effects: Physical
Effects of Rape
Physical Injuries
100% of completed rapes, 39% of attempted rapes, and 17% of sexual assaults against females result in injured
victims.
33% of victims sustain minor physical injuries (bruises and chipped teeth).
5% of victims sustain major injuries (broken bones and gunshot wounds).
61% of victims sustain undetermined injuries.
Only around 36% of injured victims receive medical care.
82% of those cared for use hospital services.

Effects: Mental
Mental Health
Survivors of sexual assault are:
3 times more likely to suffer from depression
6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder
13 times more likely to abuse alcohol
26 times more likely to abuse drugs
4 times more likely to contemplate suicide

Separating from heterosexualism

In Hoaglands piece Separating from heterosexualism, she
writes about how she wants a moral revolution, or a change
in value.
To fully evaluate the relationship of dominance and
subordination, we need to concern ourselves with the actual
relationship of heterosexualism.
Within heterosexualism, men dominate and de-skill women.
Women are victims of institutional and ordinary male
behavior.

Why do women claim the status of subject?

(Hoagland)

Some women lack definite resources.

Some women feel a necessary bond that ties her to man
regardless of reciprocity.
Many women are very well pleased with their role as the
other, as Bevoir stated.

What does femininity mean in

heterosexualism? (Hoagland)
Femininity characterizes any group which men in power wish to
portray as requiring domination.
It normalizes male domination and makes women subordinate.
No behavior counts as resistance to male domination.
Women who fight back and resist are labeled as mad and
insane.
In reality, when a woman is in danger of losing any sense that she
has a self about whom she can make decisions, she will resist in
some way.

Citations
Sexuality by Catharine A. Mackinnon
Separating from Heterosexualism by Sarah Hoagland
http://www.rccmsc.org/ (Statistics from Rape Crisis Center)